Q: He’s said you and Schiff are guilty of treason. Is he guilty of treason?
PELOSI: I don’t know. But I do know that he projects. Everything he says – ‘She’s in meltdown’ – means that he’s in meltdown. Everything he says, understand that he’s projecting” https://t.co/Zu0I2qIsPW
— John Harwood (@JohnJHarwood) October 31, 2019
Trump has urged Republicans to focus on the substance in the impeachment inquiry, not the process.
I can confirm our focus will continue to be on the President’s own words and misconduct.
Glad we all agree. https://t.co/bxJuEFSWPx
— Adam Schiff (@RepAdamSchiff) October 30, 2019
at this point the Republican arguments are so weak you can’t even call them arguments
they’re tribal bleats
— John Harwood (@JohnJHarwood) October 31, 2019
Heads Up: Replicants May Already Be Among Us https://t.co/AciRMy90X1
— lvl 45 CHAOS GHOSTUS (@thetomzone) October 31, 2019
It's entirely plausible that Trump's White House handlers are showing him fake or distorted poll data just to keep him from losing his last shred of sanity. https://t.co/yJIKeYQ0Q1
— Jay Bookman (@jaysbookman) October 29, 2019
Only if a group of us can give it the MST3K treatment https://t.co/0hxGZ7R2L7
— Tom Nichols (@RadioFreeTom) November 1, 2019
To quote a one-time Trump loyalist: Sez who?...
Opinion: Republicans will have to face the truth on impeachment eventually https://t.co/vBIeqfmNbx
— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) October 31, 2019
rikyrah
Good Morning, Everyone ???
rikyrah
No….they will not face the truth because they are all compromised??
WereBear
I have a sinking feeling every time the Speaker hints that a sizeable bunch of the population really is that mentally checked out…
Steeplejack
@rikyrah:
Good morning. ?
p.a.
Trump and followers really are at the mental level of “I’m rubber you’re glue…”
Rusty
Face the truth? We are living in the age of “truthiness”, where you can believe in things that are not true but feel right because you want them to be true, and the age of “fake news”, where you can ignore things that are true, call them a lie. There is a whole media complex set up to support truthiness and fake news. When your supporters live entirely in that world, why would you ever need to face anything different? Also, why would anyone expect to people deeply committed to the Republicans to vote to destroy the party, which a successful impeachment would entail? None of that is going to happen. At best we are getting a slice of independents on our side, which is a good goal. Let’s stop wasting our time thinking there will be some great moment of enlightenment.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@rikyrah:
@Steeplejack: Mornin’ all
NotMax
@p.a.
A passel of people who remain crestfallen that the cartoon was named Dudley Do-Right of the Mounties and not The Snidely Whiplash Experience.
Steeplejack
Halloween went all right at Sighthound Hall last night. The rain held off, and in fact it was 75° and uncomfortably muggy in the late afternoon, although it cooled off quickly after dark. Nephew, 3½ , was Lightning McQueen from Cars, niece, 5, was Butterbean from Butterbean’s Café.
Pretty good turnout of trick-or-treaters, although somewhat fewer than I remember from last year. All candy needs met by Uncle Steep after a prodigal spree at Target the day before. Bonus Rubik’s cubes and plastic Slinkies left over from Bro’ Man’s ’80s-themed birthday party a couple of weeks ago.
Now it’s 45°, going up only to about 57° today. Gray but no rain. (Later, I mean. It’s still dark now.)
NotMax
@Steeplejack
As has been the case for probably the last decade, not a single candy cadger came by.
?BillinGlendaleCA
I was supposed to be up at Red Rock tonight, but decided to hold off until tomorrow night, looking at the current conditions close to there I may have made the right decision, about 30% cloud cover.
satby
@rikyrah: @Steeplejack: @?BillinGlendaleCA: Good morning all (and da rest of youse)!
We had freezing rain most of the night. No kids out at all that I saw, I think their parents dragged them to the mall.
TS (the original)
Defining the news
NYT
Fractured House Backs Impeachment Inquiry
A Divided House Endorses Impeachment Inquiry Into Trump
House Impeachment Inquiry Vote Underscores Intense Polarization
Wapo
House Vote sets stage for new phase in inquiry
Trump’s base digs in, brooks no GOP dissent
Quite the difference.
OzarkHillbilly
@NotMax: The best thing about living in the boonie woods: No Halloween. I’m not sure if it’s the distance between the homesteads or the fact that people out here shoot trespassers that discourages trick or treaters.
WereBear
@OzarkHillbilly: It’s totally a suburban phenom.
David ??Booooooo?? Koch
@TS (the original): Some asshole from the Vichy Times was on Chris Hayes saying the repuks can make a “key” argument that there was “bipartisan” opposition to impeachment because 2 measly Dems voted against it.
I was greatly disappointed that Hayes didn’t laugh in her face and call out her ridiculous ball washing spin.
RAVEN
@OzarkHillbilly: Our neighborhood is off the hook. People go all out along a strip about 1/2 mile long with hundreds of kids and some really ornate displays. It’s c couple of blocks from our house and we get nothing but it’s really fun to go hang out on one porch and help hand out candy.
Chyron HR
@David ??Booooooo?? Koch:
“So not only does the NYT report Republican propaganda as news, but now you’re producing propaganda on the GOP’s behalf and reporting it as news by claiming that Republican elected officials are going to say it in the future?” is probably too wordy for TV news.
satby
I don’t know if non-facebookers can read this, but this was a searing post by Jim Wright of Stonekettle Station:
I wish I could quote some of it, but copying is blocked. Well worth a read.
OzarkHillbilly
@WereBear: @RAVEN: When I was a kid our neighborhood was overrun with TorTers, but as the neighborhood aged the numbers dropped, then came the razor blades and needles scares (which my little sis did in fact find some needles in a candy bar one year) followed by the stage where “kids not from our neighborhood” (read “black”) were TorTing (the neighborhood had changed a lot by that time, a lot more IGMFY people had moved in) and that just about killed the trick or treating. My folks’ last decade or so they might get half a dozen or so, most parents were taking their kids to their schools or YMCA’s and Salvation Army by then..
Nothing lasts forever.
NotMax
Never saw such a place but I guess they must have existed. Scene in a 1956 movie running in the background just now took place in a somewhat seedy neighborhood chess parlor. Hourly rates card posted on the wall:
Chess 15¢
Checkers 15¢
Scrabble 10¢
OzarkHillbilly
@satby: No, but sometimes he cross posts his rants at his website. Maybe later today he’ll do so. I’ve been looking for one the last week or so, especially after the Vindman smears.
Butch
@OzarkHillbilly: Lots of Seventh Day Adventists live in our area, and they won’t allow their kids to celebrate Halloween. We buy some candy anyway just in case but haven’t had anyone show up pretty much ever.
BC in Illinois
Three notes from Halloween:
1) We did our usual Halloween “flee-the-homestead” move. We leave the house dark and leave the house. (I think that one year we stayed, and had maybe six kids come by.) Instead we went to see four g’kids at St Louis’s Chinese Language Immersion School’s Halloween parties. Interesting to see our 2nd and 3rd graders, dressed as Hermione Granger or Robin Hood, taking instructions in Chinese to sing a Chinese song for the parents and g’parents. A kindergarten g’son was a “space panda” (a NASA outfit with a panda head — his own choices) and a 4th grade g’daughter came as an “80s girl” (her idea of historical cosplay — sort of as if somebody at my elementary school came dressed as a 1920s flapper). Harry Potter / Ginny / Hermione / Gryffindor Quidditch costumes outnumbered all other costumes. Someone is making a killing, selling authentic Gryffindor ties.
2) We then went to see the opening night of Harriet, a heroic biopic of Harriet Tubman. It was, as we expected, somewhat fictionalized, heroic, and uplifting, and apparently (according to Slate) fairly historically accurate. It’s not going to win awards, but we enjoyed it. “Enjoyed” is not the totally right word — there are some rough/sad/violent parts — but it makes you want to root for justice and victory and freedom, which is well worth it.
3) Among the previews, was a trailer for a movie opening December 20th:
As I whispered to Mrs. BC, “I don’t want to see it, but I hope it does well.”
OzarkHillbilly
One of the things I have missed since Jan of 2017: Self deprecating humor in the White House.
Not exactly Obama’s best jokes, but the vid popped up in the queue and watching it I realized I missed having a Pres who could laugh at himself.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@TS (the original): The New York Times is garbage.
Peej01
The 7 kids who showed up at my house looked like they got quite a haul in my neighborhood, but they had to get their trick or treating done before it started pouring.
Chyron HR
@BC in Illinois:
Is this part of the DC Cinematic Universe, or is it a stand-alone thing like Joker?
Baud
@rikyrah: Good morning.
@?BillinGlendaleCA: You have learned well, grasshopper.
Baud
That should have been clear to everyone since “You’re the puppet.”
Baud
@OzarkHillbilly:
Now we have a president who’s self defecating. Definitely a down grade.
NotMax
I suppose the days when the kiddies also carried around little milk cartons, collecting coins for UNICEF are long gone, huh?
SFAW
@satby:
So, nu, are we gehackte Leber? You won’t re-type it for us and post it here, since some of us don’t FaceSpace? I thought you cared about us. [Brings handkerchief to eyes. wipes away fake tears.] To paraphrase that Amir Khalid guy: I am disappoint. [Or should that be “Go Liverpool”? I can never seem to get it straight.]
Another Scott
‘morning all.
No matter how long the process takes, the press seems to be determined to stick to their same playbook.
I heard a woman from Politico being interviewed on C-Span radio yesterday evening. She was talking about the budget, and never once mentioned that the House has passed 10/12 of the appropriations bills and that all of the holdup is in the Senate. There was some snippets of the Q&A with Nadler and just about every question was about the timing – WhenareyougoingtovoteonArticlesofImpeachment? Whenwhenwhen?
A report on NPR ATC about (roughly) “Centrist Democrats are nervous about Impeachment extending into the election year…”
You can see the spin already – “Devious Lefty Democrats are dragging out Impeachment for political reasons. They’re afraid that they can’t get a conviction in the Senate – and thus exonerate Donnie – and they haven’t done anything else but Impeachment Investigations since January 2017 so it’s no wonder Washington Is Broken…”
or (simultaneously) – “Devious Lefty Democrats are rushing Impeachment for political reasons. They’re afraid that they can’t get a conviction in the Senate – and thus exonerate Donnie – and they haven’t done anything else but Impeachment Investigations since January 2017 so it’s no wonder that they’re trying to keep the Ukraine telephone call in the news…”
Meanwhile, Donnie breaks his oath every single day…
Grrr…
Cheers,
Scott.
debbie
@rikyrah:
Last night, a local news station was teasing their big interview with Rob Portman on Sunday morning. What a mealy mouth! Yeah, Trump asking Ukraine to do his bidding was wrong, but it’s not an impeachable offense. Of course, Bill Clinton’s lying about a blow job was far, far worse. Usually Portman’s a slick speaker, but there were so many “ums” and “uhs” that I think even he knew he was full of shit.
Baud
@Another Scott:
There’s a market for negative stories about Democrats.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Baud: Just trying to uphold traditions at this joint.
SFAW
@Baud:
Do they make Huggies/Pampers that big? I would think being around that — if he weren’t wearing one — would qualify a Secret Service agent for extreme hazard pay.
Oh, welcome back, by the way.
OzarkHillbilly
@Baud: In case you didn’t know, you were missed. I’m glad your back if for no other reason than that I won’t have to read anymore “Baud, where are you?” comments.
John S.
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
The NYT has always been garbage.
Sometimes my mother forgets this fact, and I have to remind her of the hagiography they did on Adolf Hitler and his charming summer “home in the clouds” — 2 weeks before he invaded Poland.
debbie
@Baud:
Good morning!
ThresherK
I’m reminded of how the Argentine football team, during the Falklands War, left their cozy media cocoon and found out from the real world how England was winning the war.
It knocked Argentina off their moorings, and even though they were reigning champs they lost in the second group stage.
Baud
@debbie: Republican presidential wrongdoing tends to involve abuse of office (Nixon, Trump, Reagan in Iran Contra). Clinton’s wrongdoing was a purely private affair.
@OzarkHillbilly: You could have pied them.
@SFAW: Thanks. It’s good to be among like minded people again. Real world is scary.
Baud
@debbie: Good morning, debbie.
debbie
Nicole
We go to the nearby Mount Morris Park area, in Harlem- gorgeous old 19th Century/early 20th Century brownstones, so I experience INTENSE real estate envy every Halloween, but so worth it. The sidewalks are intensely crowded by halfway into the trick or treat period, but that’s part of the fun- so many costumes, so many of the brownstones are decorated (one apartment building turns their lobby into a haunted house) and everyone is having so much fun (teenagers included; no 12-year-old cutoff age here). And to think, when I had a kid in NYC, I was worried the kid wouldn’t get the experience of door-to-door trick-or-treating. :)
satby
@Baud: welcome back friend!
SFAW
@OzarkHillbilly:
Big deal, people miss me all the time. But that’s because their aim sucks.
OzarkHillbilly
@Baud: If I had, there would have been nobody left to converse with.
Baud
@satby: greetings, comrade.
Baud
@OzarkHillbilly: Sounds like a win-win for both sides.
OzarkHillbilly
@SFAW: Yeah, but they reload.
SFAW
@Baud:
And you think this place isn’t? Hmmm, I may need to reconsider my vote.
OzarkHillbilly
@Baud: Ouch. snif snif…
SFAW
@OzarkHillbilly:
Not worried. It’s not as if they suddenly learned how to shoot.
Of course, if they have a shotgun, and they’re within a few yards, I might worry. But the 9-mm bullets keep sliding outta their shotgun barrels.
Baud
@OzarkHillbilly:
jk
@SFAW:
I thought this place was reformed after Cole put up that post about being nice.
SFAW
@Baud:
Thus much more of a danger to the Constitution/country.
SFAW
@Baud:
R-i-i-i-i-i-ght
Baud
@SFAW: Well, he was a Democrat, so yes.
satby
@SFAW: I asked him to share it at his Stonekettle site so non-facebookers can read it. The way he structures his essays and builds to his conclusions is poetic.
OzarkHillbilly
@Baud: Now your calling me a joke? snif snif snif…
Baud
@OzarkHillbilly: Of course not. I’m not your mama.
OzarkHillbilly
@satby: I find him a bit repetitive at times, but when he gets to the point, he hammers that sucker in like a 16 penny nail.
debbie
@satby:
Your link didn’t work for me, but I follow him and will look for a link from him (hopefully).
OzarkHillbilly
@Baud: My Mama knew a good joke when she heard it.
OzarkHillbilly
I put a lot of effort into my Justin Trudeau costume. That one leaves a mark.
satby
@SFAW: @OzarkHillbilly: @Baud: aaand we’re back! ?
I missed this in the morning.
Baud
@OzarkHillbilly: Haha.
OzarkHillbilly
@Baud: True story: When I was born? My mother refused to come home for a month. They always told me she was really sick after, but I could never be too sure about that.///
Immanentize
@Baud:
Yay Baud!
Now where is Ozark Hillbilly?
satby
@debbie: yeah, I checked it in private browsing so if you don’t have a FB presence you won’t see it ?
He’s done most of his work on FB lately, his website lags on posts.
@OzarkHillbilly: he has his own rhythm of building to his point, but man, when he gets there! You practically need a cigarette after.
Amir Khalid
@SFAW:
A Liverpool fan says YNWA.
OzarkHillbilly
@Immanentize: Blech.
Ken
@satby:
Seek professional help.
Seriously, welcome (back) to all.
RAVEN
@OzarkHillbilly: It will be interesting to see where this goes. It’s grown every year and it is totally informal. The route is much the same as the doggie parade but we pay for police and insurance for that event. I was talking to some recent arrivals last night and explained the opposite of your experience. When we moved here 20 years ago there were few kids and these big houses were split up into apartments and tenants were largely students and music people. Now most of the old houses have been reclaimed and there are tons of families and kids. We have become the second most pricey area in town now.
Baud
zhena gogolia
Okay, Tom Nichols is a jerk, but that tweet is funny. Credit where credit is due.
Immanentize
@OzarkHillbilly:
Ahhh, the morning is once again all set.
NotMax
@RAVEN
Speaking of tenants, weren’t yours planning to move on?
RAVEN
@Baud: Good seein ya!
Baud
@RAVEN:
You too. I hope you’ve settled into your retirement without difficulty.
Ken
@Baud: In even better news, the split’s not “50% say impeachment is unconstitutional, 50% say Democrats should be arrested”.
Matt McIrvin
I don’t see why they *have to* face the truth on anything. The political system rewards stone-faced refusal to face up to things. Certainly Trump isn’t going to be convicted, and he stands a good chance of winning the Electoral College in 2020 if every Republican voter just refuses to budge– they just have to hold Ohio and Florida and one other swing state and they’ve got it, no matter what the popular vote count is.
raven
@NotMax: We agreed for them to stay on a month-to-month basis while they try to figure out what they are doing. My wife thinks the woman is trying to decide whether to marry the dude before she commits to buying so things seem to be on hold. He got on as an apprentice electrician and I’m not sure how much house huntin they are doing.
Also, we ran into a real problem with our reverse mortgage. As a pre-62 “non-borrowing spouse” my wife could stay in the house when I croak but she does not get access to the substantial line of credit that comes with the product. We set out to refinance to be able to include her fully but, when the first appraisal came back pretty high the FHA required a second one. It came in substantially lower and the mortgage company is required to take that. The bottom line is that we’ll take an enormous hit if we go through with the refi so we’re checking with our financial dude see what we should do.
Raven
@Baud: I’ve had three offshore fishing trips in October so that has helped! Next week is a retirement/birthday with family coming in from Cali so, once that’s over, I’ll start to get serious abut what I and, and am not, doing!
Snarki, child of Loki
[Re: Trump fireside chat. Or firesign theater?]
“Only if a group of us can give it the MST3K treatment ”
Tom Servo, where are you now that we really need you?1??
Betty Cracker
It took its time, but fall finally arrived in North Central FL around midnight. I had to shut some of the windows against the chill.
Yesterday was our second Halloween in the swamp. This time last year we were still unpacking. I do miss seeing the cute kiddos in their costumes; we got lots of trick-or-treaters at our old house. But I don’t miss the dogs’ annual hysteria.
satby
@Betty Cracker: well I got the first frost of the year, but it came as a hard freeze instead. It’s 26° outside right now. Fortunately, the ground won’t be frozen, so those summer tubers should be ok until I dig them up Sunday. I have to remember to be careful about what I wish for.
JPL
@SFAW: trump doesn’t need pampers, cuz he would just have the help clean up his mess. I wish I were kidding, .
Chyron HR
@debbie:
“We need to stop this phony impeachment! Commit more crimes!”
SiubhanDuinne
@Baud:
Welcome back, Baud. I’ve missed you.
Kay
I feel like people don’t (fully) get how incredibly bad they were in the 2016 election:
“To pursue the story lines found in the book”. Come on. How is this acceptable? The author of this advertisement for Clinton Cash, Amy Chozick, went on to cover Clinton’s campaign in 2016 after announcing in 2015 they all would be “pursuing the storylines” laid out in a Right wing operative’s book.
Zzyzx
I miss people missing Baud
Baud
@Raven:
You’re starting off right.
@SiubhanDuinne:
Thanks, SD.
Baud
@Zzyzx:
I can take off again.
Kay
They entered into contracts a year ahead of the coverage dictating the “storyline”. It was a done deal before her first general election event.
Baud
@Kay:
I believe a smart person once described it as a vast right wing conspiracy.
The big question for me is why so many people on our side didn’t react appropriately to this news at the time, the way we react to every other slight. Amy didn’t hide what they were doing.
Ken
@Baud: No need, there’s an easier solution. We’ll create a “Zzyzx bubble” similar to the one around the White House, where people pretend you’ve left and post laments. Then Zzyzx can read just those comments, ignoring any (like yours) that contradict the preferred narrative, and be happy.
Here, I’ll start. Ahem.
“I miss Baud. Baud, if you’re reading this, please come back.”
OzarkHillbilly
@RAVEN: My folks’ neighborhood was as middle class as middle class could be when it was built (they bought their house for $20K in ’58) The whole neighborhood was filled with young professionals finally getting established in their jobs and starting families. Ma was still recovering from my birth in Texas City and Pop bought the STL house without her ever seeing it. As I grew up the neighborhood grew up with me. It changed after I left. Got a lot more conservative. At some point their zip code became the richest zip code in MO. At that point the old ranch homes became worthless in comparison to the lots. McMansions started going up all over the place. It was changing even more.
Got so bad that on one visit I took a meandering route to their house to see what new monstrosities had been built. When I pulled up in front of their house and got out of my car some bitch in a Lincoln SUV pulls up next to me and starts telling me I need to leave their neighborhood, who the fuck do I think I am, what the fuck am I doing, she’s gonna call the fucking cops….
“My parents live here, Bitch. Get the fuck out of my face.”
5 seconds of silence, then “Well I’ve got your license number and I’m watching you and you just better do anything…”
“Walk away, tom. Just walk away.”
Kay
The NYTimes reporters who covered Trump and Clinton in 2016, respectively. No apology, no recognition of how bad this is, and in fact their shitty coverage continues! They bungled transcribing a Clinton podcast interview and falsely reported that Clinton said Gabbard was controlled by Russians. For two days.
Patricia Kayden
This is good.
satby
@OzarkHillbilly: so Karen was up to her bullshit way before she became an internet meme.
schrodingers_cat
@Baud: Aww don’t go. Or the Baudettes on the blog will have to start singing to stop you from leaving!
From Gurudutt’s class Sahib, Bibi aur Gulam (Sahib, wife and the slave), set in the waning days of the British empire about the downfall of a rich landowning family. On screen you see Rahman as the wealthy zamindar and Meenakumari as his wife who doesn’t want him to leave and go to the courtesan. She has even started drinking and singing, things that “good Hindu wives” are not supposed to do.
Welcome back!
ETA: If anyone is into Hindi/Indian cinema. Sahib, Bibi or Gulam is a classic. Its poetry in motion. Gurudutt was a genius. His Pyaasa (Thirsty) and Kagaaz ke phool (Paper flowers) are beautiful too. As is the lighter fare inspired by film noir like Mr and Mrs. 55 and CID. He and his wife Geeta committed suicide when they were in their earlier 40s. Its Geeta Dutt’s voice that you hear, singing.
Baud
@Ken:
I miss myself. I hope i check in soon. #GotYourBack
satby
@Kay: don’t for a minute think that that wasn’t all deliberate and that they aren’t delivering exactly the “news” they’re expected to if they want to keep their jobs.
funlady75
@Baud:
so glad to see you posting again…..(smile)
Zzyzx
@Baud: that would be inauthentic missing. I only accept the pure kind!
More seriously, it’s rare that someone is this universally liked in an online community. You really are a great politician!
Kay
@Baud:
I didn’t pay attention to it. There have been so many Clinton Crimes books and movies over the years. There were double digit “Obama Crimes” books too. There are double digit Trump Crimes books right now. The books are now a whole sub-industry in the campaign industrial complex. There’s a book a month.The difference is the two largest and most influential newspapers in the country never based their “storyline” on them.
They’ve been richly rewarded for this shitty work. Chozick got her own book and movie deal. They’re independent “brands” in addition to supposedly covering our elections. There’s an incentive for it to continue and get worse.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@OzarkHillbilly: Wow. I’ve had some nosy neighbors but none as obnoxious as that.
I’m feeling a little frazzled. I have an author event tomorrow (McHenry IL library if you’re in the area. 10-12. I’m reading at 11:50). That one’s ok probably. But then on Monday I go to Iowa to talk to 90 sixth graders, and also to a group of adults in my friend’s living room. The sixth graders have me in a panic. 90 of them. Then on Nov 12, we leave the country for 3 weeks, so I should probably do something in preparation for that.
I’m old. I’m supposed to be able to sit around and read.
Tokyokie
Luckily nobody came by our house demanding sugary handouts, because by 4 p.m., I was asleep in bed with the CPM machine bending my recently repaired leg. Of course, I’ve always been the sort to respond to “Trick or treat!” with “Trick!” Whereupon the kids would do a little dance or some such. And I’d say thanks and begin closing the door, as the kids would begin wailing over not getting a candy bar, and I’d point out that they’d said “Trick OR treat,” not “Trick THEN treat.”
Whereupon I’d usually relent and give them candy in exchange for the emotional damage I’d caused.
But not always. Depended on what I was handing out and what I wanted to keep for myself.
TS (the original)
@Patricia Kayden: So 18% of people who vote GOP think trump should be impeached, while 0% of the GOP politicians (who represent them) think trump should be impeached. trump has really trained them to be servile sycophants.
Statistics get interesting.
Baud
@schrodingers_cat:
Hey, SC. Good to see you. Belated happy Diwali.
Do you do these things?
Raven Onthill
Hey, today ACA open enrollment starts in my state. Our health insurance company has decided to leave our county, apparently taking my family’s entire health care team with it.
Thrills! Chills! Life-threatening ills!
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Tokyokie: Did no one ever egg your house?
Does this machine move you leg while you sleep? That sounds good for it under the circumstances, but how do you sleep through that?
OzarkHillbilly
@satby: Huh. I did not know about Karen. The things I learn here.
Kay
@satby:
I think there’s more individual agency involved than “want to keep their jobs” because the NYTimes is just one of their jobs. They also have jobs as individual brands- books, movies, cable tv appearances. They all promote each others brands as individuals. The NYTimes job is the ticket to a whole spin-off industry and they can do the two things at the same time.
Central Planning
Rabbit rabbit!
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Baud: I missed you. :-)
Kay
We only had 6 trick or treaters and I scared a little girl by making such a big deal out of her coming out. She backed off and would have fallen down the steps backward if her father hadn’t stopped her. Her crazy person radar pinged, I realized, too late.
Dorothy A. Winsor
Warren posted her Medicare for All Plan on twitter. Even if you don’t have an account, you should be able to see this.
OzarkHillbilly
@Dorothy A. Winsor: That’s what happens when one goes where they don’t belong. It has happened to me a few times. As often as not by cops. At least the cops tried to be professional about it, one of the advantages of being white. That one just particularly stuck in my craw because I grew up there.
tokyokie
@Dorothy A. Winsor: Yeah, it’s that thing. I think “CPM” stands for “Continuous Passive Motion,” but I’m not going to look it up. I find the movement to be so gentle, so I’m able to sleep through it. Although, apparently, I’m the exception rather than the rule.
Dorothy A. Winsor
Here’s another link to Warren’s site, where the MfA plan is posted.
The Dangerman
On first coffee on West Coast, but did Trump move to Florida so he can dump Pence for Ivanka (NY resident) in 2020? Or maybe it’ll be Junior on the ticket (apparently, the base luvs them some Don Jr.).
November 1st. A little more than a year more of this shit (although Trump will be the lamest of the lame ducks if he loses).
Betty Cracker
@Kay: As you’ve pointed out, The Times was all set to tee up a “Biden is corrupt” narrative for 2020 via Ken Vogel until the whistleblower revealed that Vogel was missing the real story. The Times has learned nothing. Though I did enjoy seeing Vogel dragged on Twitter for blowing a Watergate-level scoop and responding in pained, clipped tones that conveyed the magnitude of the butt-hurt.
I may be in the minority here in that I don’t believe The Times personnel are consciously controlled by a transnational cabal of evil oligarchs. I think the truth is smaller and more petty: they’re cynical careerists and not nearly as bright as they think they are.
I don’t think it’s possible to induce the current Beltway crew to do their jobs. Maybe the best we can hope for is humiliations like Vogel suffered result in a loss of prestige and influence. There are real, compelling political stories out there, such as a former NYC mayor and his henchmen subverting US foreign policy on behalf of the POTUS.
If The Times can’t be bothered to cover that — can’t even recognize the magnitude of the scoop when they face-plant in the middle of it — hopefully an enterprising reporter from another daily will. Jesus.
tokyokie
@Dorothy A. Winsor: And my house was never egged, which I find fairly remarkable.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@rikyrah: Even the ones who aren’t won’t do it because of Kayfabe.
OzarkHillbilly
The Halloween decorations of my neighbour. Puts us all to shame, every year, with his extreme genius.
It’s a good one.
RAVEN
@OzarkHillbilly: The advantage of our historic district. The ain’t tearing diddly down and what goes up has to fit.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@Betty Cracker: Betty, I must take you to the task for missing the big story; Trump changed his residency to Florida. Thus making Trump Florida Man.
Yes its…
Florida Man Impeached
Dorothy A. Winsor
@OzarkHillbilly: Our last house in Michigan was a standard 3 bedroom colonial in an expensive suburb. The folks who bought it built a McMansion around it that came as close to the lot lines as zoning allowed. Also, it was Tudor.
O. Felix Culpa
TRUMP IS COMMITTING ‘FELONY BRIBERY’ BY GIVING FUNDRAISING CASH TO GOP SENATORS AHEAD OF IMPEACHMENT TRIAL: EX-BUSH ETHICS LAWYER
The header was in all caps and I am too lazy to change it. Sue me.
JPL
@O. Felix Culpa: It won’t matter.
Bah Humbug
MattF
Dana Milbank notes RW projection.
OzarkHillbilly
@RAVEN: Yeah, lots of those in STL. Houses built int he late 50s early 60s have a ways to go before they become historic. The sad thing to me isn’t the houses going down (I like understated ranch houses but that’s just because I grew up in one), it’s the trees they are taking down with them. When the houses were first built there were of course, no trees. But as the years went on people planted them. One new family who bought an original house in the mid 90s told me they bought it because of the trees in the neighborhood. I remember my old man planting a couple oaks, a maple and a sweetgum in the 60s, and watched them grow from twigs to big beautiful shade trees. When the builder took down their house he could have easily left the trees in the back yard. Nope, all gone. Now it has this huuuuuge treeless front yard that nobody can sit in and enjoy, and a treeless postage stamp back yard that few would want to sit in.
If that’s what sells…
Betty Cracker
@Enhanced Voting Techniques: Trump, like OJ Simpson before him, is likely hiding assets in anticipation of NY state legal actions. A Florida lawyer has the scoop here on Twitter. But regardless of where the Cheeto-faced shitgibbon ultimately parks his flaccid orange ass, it is an undeniable fact that he was born, raised and elevated to celebrity status and eventually the presidency of the United States of America from New York.
geg6
@tokyokie:
Nah, my John had both knees replaced and used the machine in bed and napped with it all the time. Or at least, until he quit taking the heavy duty pain meds anyway.
Kay
@Betty Cracker:
Agree on the careerists but I do have to say that Trump has been very, very good for rich people. I can’t help but notice that their career wants and needs never seem to intersect so perfectly with Democrats who want to raise taxes and expand the safety net.
I’m a long time Clinton observer and I’m in the camp that says Hillary would have been more liberal than Bill was. She’s always been more liberal. She wouldn’t have gone further Right in office, she would have gone further Left and it would have been on the issues that political media treat as lower status- “women’s work”- health care, child care, family leave, education. I think she would have had space to operate there because they all would have been chasing her evil, malicious designs on foreign policy and The New World Order.
schrodingers_cat
@Baud:Thanks Baud, Happy Diwali to you too!
I do drink occasionally, I can’t carry a tune, so I don’t sing in public. I have been in dance performances in school. I learned Bharat Natyam for 3 years and was good but not great. I have always questioned tradition and kept away from rituals that relegate women to a secondary role. That was one of the reasons we didn’t have traditional Hindu Vedic wedding ceremony. I don’t wear the traditional markers of Hindu wives either. The kunku (red dot), mangal sutra, bangles, toe-rings. So I am not a good Hindu wife by the traditional definition. Nor did I change my last name.
OzarkHillbilly
@O. Felix Culpa: Yeah well, something tells me this is perfectly legal bribery because Presidents are free to contribute to campaigns, always have been. So are Senators and House members who are being investigated for ethics violations I suspect.
Jeffro
@MattF: Milbank’s not really holding back too much these days, is he? Good.
MattF
@Betty Cracker: I tend to agree with you about careerist journalists. A semi-famous teevee ‘journalist’ who covered scientific issues lived in my condo for several years— I once suggested to him that, since I was a scientist, I could give him some background information on technical issues. He looked at me as though I’d lost my marbles. Absolutely not interested.
OzarkHillbilly
@Dorothy A. Winsor: This contractor built a sort of modernist mansion, which I don’t really mind that style but as I recall there were like 2 windows in the front of the house… That would be the south side of the house, the side that gets sunshine all day long in winter? (my folks’ house had great big windows on that side to let in all that beautiful winter sun all day long) That neighborhood has pretty substantial setbacks so he couldn’t build too close to the lines, Instead he built it such that there was hardly any back yard at all.
Betty Cracker
@Kay: Agree 100% about Hillary. The party had moved further left, but so had she. The Beltway press’s kid-gloves treatment of Sanders would seem to indicate they don’t uniformly savage people who might threaten their bottom line, but maybe it was just that they knew he didn’t have a chance and were thus using him as a cudgel against Clinton. If Warren wins the nomination, they’ll go after her hammer and tongs, I’m sure of it. That’s probably true of any Democrat who wins the nomination though.
Kay
@Betty Cracker:
Along with Giuliani and Barr. There’s a parochial aspect to Trump that can’t be ignored and IMO is ignored because it doesn’t fit a stereotype. They’re supposed to be southerners :)
It’s why the “not well educated” excuse is bullshit to me, too. Most of these people had the best education money can buy. I don’t know man- did Barr need more “civics” education? Is that really the problem here? How much education does it require to recognize them as mean-spirited nasty assholes who are also corrupt? None.
schrodingers_cat
@Kay: This is a bullshit excuse. The most rabid followers of the RSS-BJP in India are the highly educated and prosperous, upper caste Hindus. I know this because I am related to these people.
Weren’t most 9/11 bombers educated and came from well-off families?
germy
The Onion
Kay
@Betty Cracker:
My husband is leaning Warren but he thinks they are going to savage her- that she’s seen as a real threat. It makes him reluctant to back her. He’s willing to make that trade- less progressive policy in return for less vicious opposition from powerful and monied interests. If Biden is less of a threat he’ll back that horse just to increase chances of winning. It’s not inspiring but it is how he thinks and he particularly dislikes Biden so this is a concession on his part. It’s been amusing to watch because he’s mavericky and he’s become this tried and true team player – just fucking WIN. That’s all he asks.
schrodingers_cat
@Baud: A good Hindu wife worships her husband as God. One of things that put me off Hindu religion was the traditional treatment of widows. Also higher caste worse the treatment. Brahmin women would have their heads shaved and had to wear one color (dull red, ochre or white depending on the region) till they died. This was not that long ago. My husband’s grandfather older sister followed these rituals. In my state these traditions died in the early 21st century.
Kathleen
@BC in Illinois: The Loudest Voice on Showtime starring Russell Crowe was stellar. One thing to read about what he did but watching it made me realize just how evil he and his enablers were. Also helped me realize what miserable lives he and his enablers have, which made me happy in some weird way.
Kay
@schrodingers_cat:
I think so. It’s hard for me when liberals promote it because to me it’s a kind of snobbery- as if evaluating character is dependent on a graduate degree, or, worse, as if a graduate degree confers character. That just isn’t true. Guiliani read the constitution and so did Barr. They’re familiar with it. They can recite the three branches. They lack character, not wealth or power or degrees.
MattF
OT.
Via Daring Fireball. Apparently, Apple’s latest iteration of iOS (13.2) has major multitasking bugs. I’m getting very tired of this.
schrodingers_cat
@Kay: The biggest RSS-BJP crank I knew growing up had a PhD in chemical engineering and several patents to his name. So when Warren and Sanders tie all our problems economics, I am dubious.
ETA: I think the elite or TPTB don’t like to give up their privilege and will fight by means fair and foul to not have to give it up. Misogyny, racism, casteism are all different manifestations of the same phenomena.
Kathleen
@Baud: Especially when a “Democrat/Liberal” is bad mouthing the party. Bonus points! Welcome back, Baud.
Kathleen
@John S.: Didn’t Times also fan paper his dreamy blue eyes or am I confusing that with Paul Ryan? Hard to keep up with FTFNYT fascist fluffings.
Betty Cracker
@Kay:
Exactly, and thank you for saying that! I laugh about all the weirdness in Florida and roll my eyes at racist Southern yokels too, but those of us who believe in equality and good governance will never come together to beat back the bone-deep evil that infects at least a third of our citizens if we don’t recognize that, while it’s not evenly distributed, it’s pretty much everywhere. The good news is that so are the decent people.
schrodingers_cat
@schrodingers_cat: * problems to
Kay
Warren’s plan. I love this and have been saying it for years, along with many other people, of course. Employers will save money with this approach and think of the simplification for them. They can GET OUT of the health care business. They don’t want to be in it anyway.
rikyrah
@debbie:
this would make good ads.
Your Senator costs _______ for his vote.
Aleta
103 @schrodingers_cat
The Baudettes aren’t going to go away quietly.
He’s been gone for such a long time
Hey na hey naa, yeah Baud is back
Now he’s back and things’ll be fine
Hey na hey naa, yeah Baud is back
Missed you Baud.
SFAW
@Kathleen:
Considering that they both were big into trying to kill undesirables, it’s an easy mistake (if it actually was one) to make
Kay
@Betty Cracker:
There is a weird thing in the midwest though where Righties sort of appropriate southern culture. I think it’s probably because Ohio and Michigan and thereabouts had kind of a bland, generic culture so the vitriolic Right needed something more punchy. It’s bizarre. It’s young men strutting around in suburban Detroit with confederate flags on their jackets. Get your own Right wing culture! Jesus. Can we at least insist on THAT?
schrodingers_cat
@Kay: I have seen confederate flags in ME, MA and NY. Thanks for signalling that I should keep far away from you. In my town cemetery there are many graves of Union soldiers. These people want to fly a Confederate flag in a Yankee stronghold?
At least they don’t have the fig leaf of “heritage”.
James E Powell
@Baud:
For reasons that are probably obvious to everyone but me, Democrats do not defend each other. In my lifetime, they never have.
MattF
@Kay: @schrodingers_cat: I think that’s plain old racism.
Kay
@schrodingers_cat:
I pass a huge one on my court rounds, in NW Ohio. They’re even bad at flag etiquette. I don’t think you’re supposed to leave the flag of “your nation” out in the elements for 5 years so it’s all frayed and faded. It’s a loser flag. It looks like Sherman let them keep it out of pity.
schrodingers_cat
@Kay: Indeed!@MattF: Yes of course.
Kay
@schrodingers_cat:
We have Union soldiers listed at the courthouse! Engraved. How is this not disrespectful to them? Why don’t they count?
laura
Our Dia de los Muertos party is tonight – beans and rice and everything nice, and it was whisker close that I would be on a picket line on San Jose at 6 this morning. Yesterday’s high anxiety has passed, the house is decorated furniture pushed to the edges and the offrenda has photos and remembrances of loved friends and family. The house smells like carnitas and flowers and the weather is clear and cool. A barrel of sangria is melding. Cousin Tom made a painting to my specs about 5 of the children who died in cpb/ice custody after being stolen from their parents – the Celestial Loteria.
We’re expecting up to 150 and DJ Larry Rodriguez will be spinning platters and filling the dance floor. Old folks getting down with they bad selves house party.
rikyrah
@Baud:
Hey Baud :)
rikyrah
@laura:
150 people?
yikes!!
have a great time
James E Powell
@Betty Cracker:
No maybe about it. They promoted & protected Sanders because they hate Hillary Clinton. They did the same thing with Bradley because they hated Al Gore for reasons that have never been explained.
schrodingers_cat
@Kay: It is indeed. How racist do you have to be flying the Star and Bars in Brunswick ME, the home of Joshua Chamberlain.
Another Scott
Twitter:
Uncle! Uncle!! UNCLE!!!
rofl.
Cheers,
Scott.
O. Felix Culpa
@schrodingers_cat:
I agree with you in principal – that not all problems are economic – but I’m not sure that Warren overtly supports that point of view. Sanders clearly does of course. Warren’s primary focus is on economics due in part to her research and she is not as strong on race as she should be, but can you show me where Warren has said that economics underlie all our problems?
schrodingers_cat
@O. Felix Culpa: She hasn’t said so in so many words. But she does blame corporations for everything that ails us. She is weak on social issues and also on foreign policy.
Her answer on withdrawal from Syria was weak.
donnah
@schrodingers_cat:
Interesting. When my husband and I first married, we attended his family reunion on the Fourth of July weekend in Johnstown, PA. His Serbian family had flown his aunt, (Tetka) from her homeland to join the American family. She was a tiny thing, a widow, and according to their traditions, wore all black, with a black lace cap, black long sleeved dress, and black shoes and stockings. All wool. In July. In Pennsylvania.
She spoke no English, but the fireworks terrified her and the heat nearly wiped her out, so I’m not sure how much she enjoyed the event.
laura
@rikyrah: yep, it gets so crowded in the kitchen, you have to go from the backyard to the front door to get around. One year the cops showed up on a noise complaint, took a look around a recognized friends of their parents and left.
germy
Interesting thread on trump’s move to Florida (protecting assets)
Amir Khalid
@Kay:
The stakes are such that I doubt the powerful and monied would consider sparing any Democratic nominee even one iota of full-on, vicious-to-the-max opposition. Not even Biden. He might not face racist or sexist attacks, being a white man, but they’d make up for it elsewhere.
O. Felix Culpa
@schrodingers_cat: @schrodingers_cat: Hmm, I get the impression that she blames corporations for much, but not everything, that ails us. And would she be wrong? It may also be smart policy to go after problems that are more directly fixable – that is, passing regulations that address bad corporate behavior, of which there is much, plus issues of equity with regard to taxation.
I agree that she needs to be stronger on social issues and she appears to be working on that. However, as with HRC, the coverage mysteriously isn’t there (just as others have pointed out the even greater absence of coverage for Kamala). I think it’s important for us to be mindful of press selectivity in what they do and do not report, and in how they frame it. We’re not immune to how they shape opinion, myself included.
Foreign policy – yes, not her strong suit. I’m not happy about her protectionist leanings. That said, foreign policy is not the strong suit of most candidates currently and historically. The question there is whether the candidate is a learner and whether she would bring good policy experts on board for guidance.
Edited.
rikyrah
No good, low-down, rotten muthaphuckas ? ?
Matthew Chapman (@fawfulfan) Tweeted:
Ever since the North Carolina GOP lost their supermajority, they’ve kept trying to trick Democrats into not showing up for votes so they can override Gov. Cooper’s vetoes.
But after doing this a couple times, Dems caught on and now the whole caucus shows up at every session. https://twitter.com/fawfulfan/status/1190268144721498113?s=17
germy
@O. Felix Culpa:
Yes, that’s an important part of it.
I think they’re ignoring Harris, and distorting Warren. Deliberately.
Matt McIrvin
@James E Powell: I think a lot about Haidt’s moral foundations theory. According to Haidt, liberals don’t value group loyalty or respect for authority as values *in themselves* as much as conservatives do. One consequence is that we’re more likely to make a big deal out of the deficiencies of our own team members and our own leaders, as an expression of principle. And I think that’s true both for centrists who yearn to point out when a conservative has a point, and the further left people who constantly knock the party as corrupt and ideologically suspect. Neither is valuing support for the tribe very highly, because they see it as just empty cheering for the home team. But a certain amount of tribalism is needed to win.
Barbara
@germy: Right. A lot of the Enron executives established residencies in Florida for the same reason, but my understanding is that you can only protect a single property, i.e., your home. So the gambit was to use a lot of your ill-gotten gains to buy a boffo “homestead” and then keep it after you have survived bankruptcy. I guess they would sell it and then use the proceeds to buy something cheaper and live off the rest. New York famously has a very low homestead provision considering the average cost of a house for most New Yorkers, not just in NYC. No one would do this without having an undue fear of personal bankruptcy.
tokyokie
@MattF: Once I downloaded the latest Apple OS, I had to spend about 5 1/2 hours on the phone with apple advisers to figure out how to convert my iTunes movie library into an appleTV library. And it took me the better part of a week to convert the first hard drive, and I have six more hard drives to go.
Blech.
schrodingers_cat
@O. Felix Culpa: Other than bringing corporations to heel I don’t see an overarching vision. I think reining in the corporations is important but a President needs a bigger vision than that. Especially after T has decimated our standing in the world. I don’t think we need a “good” protectionist.
Omnes Omnibus
@Baud: You’ll never be more popular than you were when you were gone.
Patricia Kayden
Kathleen
@Zzyzx: But we haven’t seen his emails. What is Baud hiding?
O. Felix Culpa
@schrodingers_cat: I would articulate EW’s bigger vision as protecting and supporting the middle class, and helping more people achieve (and retain) that status. Her corporate policy is a means towards that end. Which candidates do you think have the bigger vision you seek and how would you describe it?
ETA: I’d also add that her healthcare policy (whether plausible or not) is more than just an attack on corporations, but also an expression of bigger vision – everyone should have access to affordable healthcare and not go broke as a result of medical needs.
Betty Cracker
@Matt McIrvin: Excellent points. I don’t know how we get around that either.
catclub
@satby: you must log in first to FB to read that.
How about a screen capture? I wonder if FB has figured out how to block that, too.
schrodingers_cat
@O. Felix Culpa: I am not sold on anyone yet.
She doesn’t speak much to the demonization of immigrants under this administration either. Its all corporations and their lobbyists blah blah blah for every question.
Bennet, Castro, Booker, Beto, Kamala have all spoken eloquently about this. She seems to be only concerned with people who look like her and their issues.
StringOnAStick
@Tokyokie: Best of luck on your new bionic nature. The first week is the hardest and by week 6 you’ll realize things are much better. I did one knee in March, the other in July and I’m back to 9 mile hikes now, though my experience with ortho surgery is it takes a full year to see the final results. I’m still a little stiff in the morning but the older knee is much less so, so I suspect all the stiffness will eventually go away. Final note: do the PT as ordered!
Betty Cracker
@Patricia Kayden: I am so looking forward to Giuliani’s activities being detailed in public hearings. An appearance by Giuliani himself isn’t necessary — he and Trump have both left copious electronic trails outlining their crackpot conspiracy theories. Both involved normal people in their antics, professionals who were appalled by the stupidity and can testify about what actions they took in service of or in opposition to that lunacy.
O. Felix Culpa
@schrodingers_cat: Fair enough. I lean EW, but wish Kamala were gaining more traction and am open to others. Except Tulsi and Bernie, of course. Although I’ll begrudgingly vote for the latter if he were inexplicably to end up as our nominee.
bemused
@Jeffro:
Mind boggling. I don’t know which is worse, Republicans who actually believe their projection or those who don’t but deliberately use every filthy tool they can.
Matt McIrvin
@OzarkHillbilly: oh, yeah, the “kids not from our neighborhood”. But isn’t that awesome? Isn’t it fun? There are clearly kids coming to our door from further away than our little block, and they’re a human rainbow, and they’re cute and fun. I don’t see the problem.
schrodingers_cat
@O. Felix Culpa: I would love to have her regulate Wall Street and rein the capital markets.
Its early days yet at this point in 2007 Obama was a distant third behind HRC and Edwards.
Matt McIrvin
@Kay: not just the Midwest. Righties play Confederate in New England. I’ve heard Nazis fly the Confederate flag in Germany because the swastika is illegal.
satby
@Kay: but they have those other gigs due to their jobs at the NYT, which lends its (to us, long gone) legitimacy to their extra-curricular works. They wouldn’t get book deals if they were reporters at the Podunk Times. There’s an industry behind this.
Keith P.
“Job numbers better than expected – 122,000 jobs added in October”.
Isn’t that a somewhat anemic number? IIRC, 150k is where you want to be, at least when a person of color is in the White House.
O. Felix Culpa
@schrodingers_cat: Good point. This primary feels like a lifetime already and we haven’t had any actual votes yet!
Matt McIrvin
@Betty Cracker: The funny thing is, Haidt himself saw it in this very centrist-liberal way as a basis for liberals to empathize with conservatives more, by understanding their values. But his results could be applied another way.
catclub
@Patricia Kayden:
My gripe is that they are putting the cart before the horse with that question. 1. Should Trump be investigated under the impeachment rules?
2. Should he be removed?
But instead they always put the two together, so objections to either one are added up.
jc
The new abnormal.
Uncle Cosmo
@satby: If it is in fact “well worth a read,” let’s hope Jim crossposts it on his site. Otherwise it can stay that way till the cows come home. The day I join Fuckerberg’s Foulness will be the 14th of Never.
Kathleen
@SFAW: QFT! I know media can’t wait to return to its ritual slobbering over their beloved Rethuglican Bully Daddies. Trump is making that difficult.
Kathleen
@Kay: Cincy borders Kenfuckty which I can see from my house as well as Indyklanna so we have our own unique spin.
rikyrah
@Kay:
CLAP CLAP CLAP
rikyrah
@schrodingers_cat:
Don’t know about the bombers but BinLaden was from a rich as phuck family.
Uncle Cosmo
@Baud: Yeah, right.** What %age of those who favor impeachment just want it so the Senate can “exonerate” him & the Thugs can “ram that down the throats” of the Dummycrats in November 2020?
** “The English teacher said to the class, ‘A double negative in a sentence can sometimes be interpreted as a positive, but there is no known instance of a double positive that can be interpreted as a negative.’ A student in the front row said, ‘Yeah, right.'”
schrodingers_cat
@rikyrah: Atta was an engineering or architecture student IIRC.
Leftists always like to tell themselves that it is the poor or unemployed who are attracted to these ideologies of supremacy and hate. That is not always the case.
StringOnAStick
@Matt McIrvin: We’re in an area that became middle to upper middle class since we’ve lived here, and has always been seriously white; the city’s diversity comes from the large international student population at the university here (town is 38,000 but close to Denver) . Denver has a large Hispanic population and on some years I see vans of kids being brought here by their dads. I make it a point to smile and wave; I want them to feel welcome, especially after the local Allce Kravits revealed that any time she sees a nonwhite person parked on the street she calls the cops. They’ve always been workers waiting for their crew, and the only burglaries we’ve had here have been perpetrated by white people; she’s a Karen/Becky racist. I’m not usually pleased by news of a divorce, but I was by her ‘s because she didn’t get the house. Bye, bye!
MattF
@Uncle Cosmo: This is actually a quotation from Sidney Morgenbesser, a famous philosopher who died recently. NYT obituary.
rikyrah
As impeachment enters next phase, witnesses tell consistent story
Rachel Maddow reports on the vote in the House to move ahead with the Donald Trump impeachment inquiry, and the way each new witness corroborates the overall picture of a Trump quid pro quo with Ukraine.
Oct. 31, 2019
StringOnAStick
@rikyrah: In Santiago, Chile last year I saw a poster with the Bin Laden name prominently featured. When I first saw the poster I thought it was for a concert a d it was an edgy band name; it was for a big construction project and the Bin Laden family ‘s corporation was the prime contractor. If they do any work in the US I am sure it is as a subcontractor with a different name.
Patricia Kayden
@TS (the original): The NYT is so dang annoying with its soft pedaling of the fact that Republicans are defending a lawbreaking, con artist. We already know that Congress is hyper partisan.
Patricia Kayden
rikyrah
Missouri tracked patients’ periods in GOP anti-abortion effort
Rachel Maddow reports on the lengths to which Missouri’s health director, Randall Williams, has gone to pursue the Republican agenda of eliminating the last abortion-providing clinic the state, and the trauma suffered by Planned Parenthood patients and staff as a result.
Searcher
Re: Trump moving to Florida, besides hiding assets from NYS, I would also note that this should mean he no longer needs to file a NYS tax return going forward.
And it’s always, always about the tax returns, because it’s always, always about Russia.
schrodingers_cat
@rikyrah: They were tracking periods of the asylum seekers in detention.
schrodingers_cat
@Patricia Kayden: Judy Woodruff’s NewsHour is the same. I get better reporting from the BBC.
Brachiator
@O. Felix Culpa:
I think that every Democratic Party candidate, and even Bernie, is better than Trump and any Republican. However, sometimes I think that the Dem candidates give the impression that they don’t know anything about the economy and don’t care about the economy or jobs. They just see a big old bucket of wealth, generated somehow, and want to tap into it to help people. This is a worthy endeavor in some ways, but insufficient.
EW has gone from someone with excellent ideas about regulating corporations to curb abuses and crimes against the public to someone with blunt and clumsy plans that interfere with businesses. This does not necessarily help sustain and grow the middle class. Or help people get out of poverty.
Totally agree with you here. I would like to see the ACA expanded and protected rather than trying to get a new system in place, but EW and all the other candidates seem to be committed to finding ways to improve access to health care.
joel hanes
@WereBear:
[Hallowe’en is] totally a suburban phenom
Tiny Iowa towns say thee nay.
Once happened to wander through a little twelve-street town in Iowa on Hallowe’en, (I want to say Baxter, but don’t remember for sure) in which the most of the main street businesses and residences go all out, and parents bring in their kids from all the surrounding communities and farms. The main street is broad, and it’s essentially a two-block-long street party.
nyrobbin
@David ??Booooooo?? Koch:
Yeah, Chris Hayes doesn’t do that. I like him but he shouldn’t interview republicans.
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@Baud:
Good morning! Glad to see you back :)
rikyrah
Schiff: Expect impeachment inquiry transcripts release next week
Rep. Adam Schiff, chair of the House Intelligence Committee, talks with Rachel Maddow about the next steps in the Donald Trump impeachment inquiry, and flags that he expects transcripts of witness depositions to be released as soon as next week.
Schiff: Impeachment inquiry doing the work Barr shirked
Rep. Adam Schiff, chair of the House Intelligence Committee, who leads the Trump impeachment inquiry talks with Rachel Maddow about the unique challenges facing the impeachment committees and the steps he’ll take in the next phases of the process.
Searcher
@joel hanes: I grew up on a farm in Indiana, back when people still had children, and we always trick-or-treated (and were trick-or-treated in return) by my parents driving us around to the houses of close friends and distant relatives.
I probably know more about who my distant relatives are from Halloween (“this house is your great-grandfather’s cousin”, “this house is your grandmother’s oldest sister”, etc) than from family reunions.
I took my daughter trick-or-treating to some of my upstate NY neighbors this year; we were the first trick-or-treater for one in 30 years, and another in ten or twenty.
rikyrah
@schrodingers_cat:
I know. I know.
Ruckus
@debbie:
When every word that comes out of your mouth is a lie and you know that every word is, hemming and hawing is all you’ve got.
And that’s all that repubs have, is lying. Some of them even know that they are lying. I’d bet that some don’t know. The ones that can lie with a straight face and without the hemming and hawing, they don’t know, they have swallowed the entire playbook and are just regurgitating it. Actually they are all just throwing up bullshit, hoping that group solidarity will prove something. It’s still bullshit and some actually know. Those are the ones that might turn. Might.
J R in WV
@O. Felix Culpa:
I think we should ditch the word “regulation” and all it’s related words. The word we need to use is “protection” as the purpose of almost all regulations is protection of the population from improper acts of criminal organizations and individuals. It’s easy to be against regulations, not quite as cut and dried to be against protections, sounds stupid right off to fight protecting people.
O. Felix Culpa
@Brachiator:
Two parts:(1) I think Dem candidates talk A LOT about the economy and jobs. For example, green jobs, industrial policy and improving teacher pay. Whether their policies make sense or are effective is another matter, which leads to (2), Dem candidates give at least as much an impression of knowing about the economy as Republicans do. Frankly, more knowledgeable, since none of the Dems (to my knowledge) embrace the tax scam or trickle-down economics.
Ruckus
@Baud:
Gunna take more than a sit down talk from dad to make the kids behave.
O. Felix Culpa
@J R in WV:
I like that idea. Maybe that’s why it’s called the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. :)
mrmoshpotato
@p.a.:
Nu uh! No puppet! No puppet! You’re the puppet! You’re the puppet!
Brachiator
Trump’s stupid insistence on managing his defense and going on the offensive could really hurt him. I hope. I hope. Ultimately, he has to depend on GOP solidarity. And so far, the GOP is standing behind him all the way. They are willing, eager, to betray the country. Some Republican voters might see that they are being played for fools by politicians who don’t care about them or the nation.
J R in WV
@Searcher:
No, no, no. If he earns more than a single cent of income in NY state, he will need to complete a full NY State Income Tax Form, and to pay taxes on all income derived from business activity in the state. For example, baseball players file forms in every state in which they have played a game, because they were paid for those games in that particular stadium.
My wife was elected Sec-Treasurer of her nation-wide union local, and spent time in NYC on the negotiating committee, during which her income was the same as when she worked for her employer, but was provided by the union, in NYC. So she had to file a N Y State income tax return any year she spent time in NYC on anyone’s payroll.
Trump won’t escape filing N Y state forms, although he won’t have to pay taxes on income not derived from NY business activity. He’s just making his tax picture more complicated than it was.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
I live in a semi-rural area now, but fifteen-twenty years ago I lived in a full on suburb and in five years I got one trick-or-treater, a kid who came over a couple of times a week to play with my dog, and he had already taken his costume off. For a few years before that, I lived in an apartment complex with a fair number of grade-school age kids, nothing.
Ruckus
@TS (the original):
He didn’t train them, of that he’s incapable. He did/does give them copious opportunities to practice at it though. It’s the old republican slogan “All for one, one for himself.” They don’t have a leader as much as they are just being the lemmings.
O. Felix Culpa
@Brachiator: “Some Republican voters might see they are being played for fools by politicians who don’t care about them or the nation.”
Sadly, I don’t see much evidence of that happening yet in my small sample of Republican acquaintances, but I fervently hope this comes to pass.
J R in WV
@O. Felix Culpa:
Yeah! Now we’re talking the right way!! Protection of the people from the Corporations, which are NOT people.
J R in WV
And one more thing!
I read somewhere this morning that Trump’s campaign is making large payments to the campaigns of many Senate Republicans. The headline was wonderful, I can’t quote it but I can sure paraphrase it properly:
I’m loving that perspective. If they’re going to be his jury, he had best not give them a light for their seegar! Let alone huge monetary donations to their political campaign fund!!
One more count in the Articles of Impeachment, bribery of his jurors!!!
Ruckus
@OzarkHillbilly:
It seems some people want to live in their own little world, they want walls around them to protect them from all the other scaredy cats that they believe everyone else to be. It’s not a home they build it’s a self inflicted prison.
Mnemosyne
@Baud:
Sadly, that market is on both the right and the left.
O. Felix Culpa
@J R in WV: “One more count in the Articles of Impeachment, bribery of his jurors!”
From your keyboard to the FSM’s ears!
The Lodger
@Kay: There are worse right-wing cultural markers than confederate flags. And I hate Confederate flags.
Searcher
@J R in WV: Isn’t that trivially solved with shell corporations? As long as Trump doesn’t directly own or operate anything in NYS — which I’m pretty sure he doesn’t anyway, because I thought he had like 1000 shell companies or something — I think he could skirt it.
catclub
@schrodingers_cat:
And Giuliani! was the frontrunner for the GOP in 2007.
Kelly
@J R in WV:
and stop calling benefit cuts “reforms”
Ruckus
@Matt McIrvin:
I think it boils down to greater good over tribal loyalty. Which actually protects the most people and which protects the head of the tribe?
It gets complicated when the tribe gets too big because everyone suffers, but their seems to be no perfect answer, as it always true.
Another way of looking at it is inclusive vs exclusive. Which is the greater good?
Brachiator
@O. Felix Culpa:
On my mother’s side, I come from a long line of teachers and educators. I have nothing but respect for the jobs they do. However, a federal focus on improving teacher pay is extremely narrow. How does this help improve the pay of the millions of workers who are not teachers? This is more of a sop to teacher unions, and is good for getting out the vote. It ain’t part of a comprehensive economic policy. This is not quite as bad as Trump bullshit suckup to coal miners, an industry that has seen declining employment since the 1940s. But it’s in the neighborhood.
Here’s what some people hear when Dems talk about green jobs: “My industry is declining and I might lose a job and benefits that I spent years working at. And my alternative might be a minimum wage job in a possible future “green” industry? No thanks.” Trump is a bullshitter and the GOP offers empty promises, but it is easier to latch onto the promise that your old job will always exist or that Trump will magically bring back jobs you know about. Trump is also damaging the economy with his stupid and unfocused trade war, but we may not see the full impact of this for a few years. This is a tough area for any honest politician. I would like to see the Democrats do better, and also call out the GOP on their lies and dishonesty.
Much of the other conversation about industrial policy is muddled and unfocused, and sometimes doesn’t get much beyond blather about infrastructure investment.
Tax policy is part of larger economic policy. I think that a Democratic president will pick good, honest cabinet people who will undo the damage that Trump has caused with his duplicitous and incompetent choices. Then we will need smart people in Congress who can shape tax policy and undo the insanity of the Trump tax cuts. The presidential candidates haven’t really been asked about this stuff, and I don’t think that the debate panels are smart enough to ask the right questions. But here, I think the Democrats are clearly better than Trump and the GOP, which has simply decided to sell out to plutocrats.
This is all a sidebar to impeachment issues, but you raised some interesting nuggets about economic and tax policy.
PST
As expected, Trump’s defenders (other than Trump himself) seem to be shifting to their only possible defense, that what he did was unseemly but by no means impeachable. Or at least they’re running if up the flagpole. TPM (and other sources) are now reporting:
Brachiator
@catclub:
Ah, good times. I really enjoyed watching Rudy G and his candidacy drop like a stone, and the rise of Obama.
Amir Khalid
@Brachiator:
This is why I’m totally in favour of Trump defending himself on the substance of the accusations.
James E Powell
@tokyokie:
Did you turn your experience into a video tutorial now available on youtube? Because I’m pretty sure I’m going to need it! Just kidding, but that doesn’t mean I won’t need a tutorial.
I’m seriously considering moving away from apple products because issues like this are a regular part of the deal. Some don’t mind, like the people who own sports cars that need constant tinkering. Me, I want the ease and reliability of a 1990s Honda Accord.
James E Powell
@Matt McIrvin:
Ever since the Reagan days I’ve been hearing and reading centrists who argue that we liberals need to open our minds and hearts to the right-wing bigots who vex us, that if we would only reach out to them we would find common ground. I’ve never seen anyone make the same argument to the right-wing bigots.
Brachiator
@James E Powell:
Republicans are not all right wing bigots. Recently, I listened to a couple of interviews with George Will, who is hawking his new book about conservatives. Later I listened to an interview with former California politician Tom Campbell, who is trying to create a new political party in California. Both men noted that Trump and the GOP leadership has pushed out all moderate Republicans. This is more their problem than the Democrats, but where are these people supposed to go? More importantly, where are the voters they represent supposed to go? Demographics don’t favor Democrats everywhere. And the Republicans are betraying even their dumbest, most staunch supporters, in favor of plutocrats. There should be an opportunity here for Democrats to benefit.
Calouste
@Patricia Kayden: And keep in mind that there hasn’t been any public hearings yet, so those numbers are likely to go up when more stuff gets wider exposure.
mrmoshpotato
@Amir Khalid:
“Uhhhh Little
MarcoAdam! You’re a total loser! My hands are enormous, and my pen1s is tremendous! Sad!”Just Chuck
@Brachiator: If they vote for Trump, they are still right-wing bigots. And the Republicans eventually always get in line and do what they’re told.